


Superman

by tangiblewhimsy



Series: Street Kids [2]
Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-25
Updated: 2012-07-25
Packaged: 2017-11-10 16:15:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/468231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tangiblewhimsy/pseuds/tangiblewhimsy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Aiba met Nino</p>
            </blockquote>





	Superman

Nino had always been small for his age, all bones and slight frame and light weight. He had learned early on that he could rarely overpower those that would wish to terrorize him (and there would always be those that wished to terrorize him), so he opted to make the best of his abilities to outrun and out-think his pursuers. But then, there was only so much he could do against six much older boys with much longer legs.

They'd managed to run him down almost eight blocks from the combini he'd just finished buying some cheap snacks at. He'd hurtled himself over fences and down side streets, clambering over cars and tearing around people. Nino could hardly hear his hunters over the crash of his pulse in his ears but for the thunder of overturned garbage cans and refuse they left in their wake.

He had only the vaguest notion of who these boys were, having seen them a few times as he ducked in and out of unused stairwells of old apartments in ratty corners of town. He knew that they followed a vague leader, a ruthless youth who was headed towards a prison sentence and an early grave; determined to take as many with him as he could. Nino knew enough to know that they were much like a pack of wild dogs.

As he was backhanded and felt his lip split against one boy's knuckle Nino also knew that they were probably going to kill him. As he was forced to his knees with an abrupt strike to his lower back, raising swelling eyes to an unbuckled belt, he began to lose hope that his death would be swift.

"Haa? What are you guys doing?"

Everything stopped.

The hand tangled in Nino's hair did not release its grip but froze and Nino watched hazily though his blurring periphery as the figures around him turned to face the entrance of the squalid alley they stood in. At the entrance, bathed in the gold of the early evening sun, stood a tall, gangly boy in an old, tattered coat with a bag slung over his shoulder.

"The fuck do you care?" the 'leader' spat out.

There was a pause and Nino felt rather than saw the newcomer's warm brown eyes drift over him before returning to take in the scene as a whole. "Hmmn," Nino tried to blink away the white spots in his vision, concentrating on the strange, smokey timber of the new boy's voice. "Wouldn't it be better if you had someone that knew what they were doing?"

There was a beat of silence. "What?"

Nino heard a booted foot take a step into the alley. "I don't know. He just looks really..." the smokey voice stopped. "It's just more fun if it's with someone who doesn't have to be given instruction."

"What, like you?" sneered a voice above Nino's hair and he felt the sharp burn as his hair was given a swift yank.

"Sure," the response was immediate.

Nino managed to open his one good eye to see the boy before him regarding his face before looking back at the new boy. "What's he to you?"

Nino could only assume that the other guy shrugged. "Does it matter?"

Another moment of silence and Nino swallowed hard around the beat of his heart in his throat. Did this idiot know what he was doing?

Finally, "C'mere then." To the boy holding Nino's hair, "Leave him."

Nino was flung forward and hit the ground hard, barely managing to brace himself before his head hit the pavement. Looking up through a fog of shock and pain Nino watched as the tall youth was roughly escorted a little further back into the alleyway where there was a door that was opened and then shut.

Nino was left alone in the silence of the abandoned alley.

Allowing himself a moment to recuperate he pushed himself carefully to his feet, his body shaking from the exertion. Standing, he managed to stumble back towards a set of plywood flats that leaned up against a wall opposite the door. He fit himself behind the sheets of damp wood and waited.

As time passed the gold light of the sun slid down the alley walls slowly and Nino's head lulled against his shoulder, occasionally hitting the damp wall beside him. He would shake himself at those points, keeping in mind the potential for concussions and comas, and watching the door intently.

Nino could never be sure of exactly how much time passed before the door finally opened again. The six boys filed out and brushed their way down the dirty pavement, their bustle melding in with the noise of the streets as they made their way out into the night. Nino stood, steadying himself against the wall and waited a bit longer.

He was beginning to grow anxious. Where was the other boy? He suppressed all of the pessimism that he had allowed for himself until he could be sure. Stepping forward, he steeled himself against what he was most likely going to find.

Nino froze a few feet from the steel door as it was pushed open slowly, a bleached head hunched over and slumped against the frame. Moments of silence passed before the head rose and he met those warm eyes again.

Through bruised lips and obvious weariness and pain the boy then smiled at Nino. "Ah," Nino flinched inwardly at how horse the boy sounded. "You're alright! That's good."

Nino surged forward and caught the boy as he began to sink to the ground in the doorway. The bleached blonde sagged against him, breathing a deep sigh. "What the hell did you do that for?" Nino demanded. He was furious, but more than that he was afraid; afraid for this boy who had saved him. "Are you a complete moron?"

"Haha," the boy's voice was genuinely warm with the soft, scratchy laughter. "Yeah, kinda."


End file.
